SCO News

The end of 2010 allows us the opportunity to look back at some of the significant SCO headlines from throughout the year. Highlights included:

January 2010

• A group of SCO volunteers spend the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday by painting the hallways of Memphis Academy of Health Sciences.
• Dr. Daniel Fuller, Assistant Professor, is named Chief of Cornea and Contact Lens Service for The Eye Center at SCO.
• SCO launches its Facebook page; by year end, SCO has more Facebook fans than any other optometry school.

February 2010

• Dr. Pinakin Gunvant, Assistant Professor, and colleagues from the University of Memphis are profiled in the media for their glaucoma research.
• SCO partners with the Memphis Rotary Club and Stop Hunger Now to package more than 53,000 meals for Haiti residents.
• Not even snow dampens a great turnout of alumni, faculty and students at SCO’s annual SECO Alumni Reception in Atlanta.
• The SECO presidency passes from one SCO alumnus, Jonathan Shrewsbury, OD ’81, to another, Ron Bannister, OD ’77.
• Librarian Linda McKinney retires after 15 years of service to SCO.

March 2010

• Congressman Steve Cohen visits with students when SCO’s Community Outreach Program performed vision screenings at a Whitehaven Health Fair.
• Dr. Glen Steele, Professor, receives Prevent Blindness Tennessee’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
• Jacob Hodges, ’11, wins SCO’s Student Bowl.
• Dr. Marc Taub, Assistant Professor, is named Chair-elect of Vision Quest, a coalition of professionals serving the visually impaired.

April 2010

• SCO hosts its first weeklong Capstone educational program for graduating seniors.
• Third-year interns participate in a Saturday Laser Symposium.
• SCO’s annual senior banquet recognizes academic and clinical success.
• SCO volunteers stage a special fifth birthday party for Emma Ivie, daughter of Dr. Jared Ivie, SCO resident. (Emma passes away in June after a battle with cancer).
• One hundred nineteen graduates earn their Doctor of Optometry degrees at commencement. Valedictorian is Brandon Weyand, OD ’10; Tom Chwe, OD ’10, is salutatorian.

  Receiving honorary degrees are Robert A. Williams, Executive Director for the Optometric Extension Program Foundation and Sue Gardner, Executive Director for the North Carolina State Optometric Society.

May 2010

• SCO student volunteers from SVOSH and FCO travel to several foreign countries for mission trips, while other volunteers travel to East Tennessee for a Remote Area Medical (RAM) clinic.
• The Eye Center hosts a runway and trunk show featuring the frame designs of two 1988 alumni, Drs. Raul Arencibia and Jeff Northcutt.
• A group of Tennessee and local lawmakers tour SCO and The Eye Center.
• The Eye Center hosted an orientation programs for third-years to welcome them to their clinical internship.
• SCO hosted its first Housing Fair for incoming students.

June 2010

• SCO President Richard W. Phillips, OD '78, FAAO, is honored by the Memphis Rotary Club as a Paul Harris Fellow and as the Memphis chapter’s Rotarian of the Year.
• The Dr. W.C. Maples Award for Clinical Excellence in Vision Therapy and Rehabilitation, a student scholarship award, is established in honor of Dr. W.C. Maples, Professor.
• Several hundred alumni, faculty and students attend SCO’s alumni reception at the AOA meeting in Orlando.
• Dr. Joe Ellis, a 1986 graduate, becomes president of the American Optometric Association.
• Nancy Harris, long-time Student Services staff member, retires after 19 years of greeting prospective students to campus.
• Two Polish ODs spend the summer observing SCO faculty.

July 2010

• More than 92% of SCO’s faculty and staff break the all-time school record for an internal annual giving campaign, raising more than $64,000 for scholarships.
• Dr. Patricia Estes-Walker is named Interim Chief of Adult Primary Care in The Eye Center.
• Dr. Daniel Smith, a 1994 graduate, is named Interim Chief of Pediatric Primary Care in The Eye Center.
• Dr. Daniel Fuller is promoted to Associate Professor, while Dr. So-Yeon Sharon Lee is promoted to Assistant Professor.
• SCO hosts its first Alumni/Child Forum to provide prospective legacy students and their families with information about the admissions process.

August 2010

• SCO welcomes 121 first-year students to campus. A total of 808 applications were received for the Class of 2014, the highest number since 1998.
• Twenty-nine students from the Class of 2014 receive $111,000 in first-year scholarships.
• Dr. Janette Dumas is named Coordinator of Minority Recruitment.

September 2010

• SCO recognizes excellence at the college’s 25th annual Convocation ceremony.
• W.C. Maples, OD ’68, receives SCO’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
• Paul Mormon, OD ’01, receives SCO’s inaugural Young Alumni Award.
• Dr. Jerry Hayes, a 1973 graduate and founder of the Hayes Center for Practice Excellence, speaks to SCO students on campus and at the Peabody Memphis.
• Dr. Tom Hyde, a 1976 graduate, is named Chair of the Board of Trustees. Dr. Doug Clark is also named to the Board.
• SCO’s student loan cohort default rate remained at 0% for the 14th consecutive year.
• The Eye Center’s collaboration with Project SAVE to help children’s vision is profiled in the Commercial Appeal.

October 2010

• Several hundred alumni attend reunion and other alumni activities, as well as CE classes, during Homecoming 2010.
• Several alumni talk about women’s issues and optometry at SCO’s first Women in Eyecare Event.
• More than 200 students, faculty and staff participate in the Third Annual VisionWalk in Memphis to raise awareness for the Foundation Fighting Blindness.
• SCO receives an award for the most attendees from any Memphis area college at the Race for the Cure breast cancer awareness event.
• Dr. Frank Gibson, Director of the Externship Program and a 1968 graduate, retires after 19 years of service to SCO.
• The Eye Center at SCO hosts its second annual Halloween event for pediatric patients and the community.
• Several alumni – Drs. Jeff Foster, Kurt Steele, and Joy Stone – celebrate the 60th anniversary of their practice being founded.

November 2010

• U.S. Congressman John Boozman, a 1977 graduate, is elected to the U.S. Senate, the first alumnus and optometrist ever elected to the office.
• SCO hosts an alumni reception at the American Academy of Optometry meeting in San Francisco.
• Board of Trustees member Steven Reed, OD ’95, is named the Mississippi Optometric Association’s OD of the Year.
• The Memphis Rotary Club joins faculty, staff and students in packaging more than 70,000 bags of food for Stop Hunger Now.
• A student, faculty and resident group provide vision screenings in Smithville, Tennessee at a Remote Area Medical (RAM) clinic.
• Professor Emeritus Jim Burke, OD ’77, visits for SECO Day 2010.
• Third-year intern and Olympic athlete Josh McAdams wins the SVOSH Eye5K.

December 2010

• SCO hosts Mississippi legislators and the Mississippi Optometric Association for campus tours.
• Third-year intern and Olympic athlete Josh McAdams wins the St. Jude Half Marathon.
• NOSA students hold a fundraiser to buy gifts for a child through the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree Program.
• SCO ends the year with a more engaged community carrying out the college’s daily mission and looking ahead to continued success in 2011.

(For a weekly – and sometimes daily – look at 2010 in review, be sure to visit SCO’s Facebook page with many more updates. You don’t have to be a Facebook member to see SCO’s posts, arranged in reverse chronological order.)

Please note: SCO will be closed for the holidays from December 18-January 2. The entire SCO community wishes you health and happiness in the New Year.

Even Santa Claus appreciates his optometrist, as a recent visit to The Eye Center at Southern College of Optometry proved. Kris Kringle himself visited for an eye examination performed by Dr. Chris Lievens, Chief of Staff.

Jolly old Saint Nicholas graciously gave his consent to recording the exam:

Click here to visit our Flickr gallery to view photos from Santa's visit. Santa promised to return to The Eye Center at SCO this time next year.

The holiday season reminds us all of the importance of goodwill and kindness to each other. Over the past year, Southern College of Optometry and The Eye Center at SCO have endeavored to make service to others an important part of SCO's mission.

We hope you enjoy this holiday video. You'll see students, faculty, staff, alumni and others fostering a commitment to serving others. To all our alumni, students, donors and friends, your support of SCO is greatly appreciated at this holiday season.

Happy Holidays from everyone at SCO!

Congratulations to Dr. Cynthia Heard, SCO Associate Professor, on her engagement to Mr. Walter Clark! Their wedding has been set for April 30, 2011 in Memphis.

James E. Venable, OD '89, SCO's Executive Director of Clinical Programs, has been named Vice President for Clinical Programs effective January 2011. Dr. Venable, who has led The Eye Center since his appointment in July 2009, also serves as an SCO Assistant Professor. He joined the college in 2004.

On a related note, Patricia Estes Walker, OD, has been officially named Director of Adult Primary Care, while Dan Smith, OD '94, has been officially named Chief of Pediatric Primary Care, both also effective in January 2011.